Thomas Gay of GA

Re: Thomas Gay of GA/AL

I have not proven where my Thomas Gay was born. He was in Stewert Co., GA in 1840 and in Calhoun Co., AL in 1850. He was not in the 1860 census with his wife Mary and daughter Catherine Vinson, but apears in the 1870 Pontotoc Co., MS census, but the census taker said he was Thomas Vinson. My lineage is through his son William J. Gay. I believe he went bact to GA in 1860 to bring William to Calhoun Co., AL. William fought and died in the civil war and Catherine took care of his children. Which county were they living in when they were poisoned? Rhodene